The problem with the engineering mindset that dominates most militaries is that you/they think in terns of immediate geographic effect, while most of our opponents are looking towards a much broader audience, hence the necessity to study performance arts.

Unfortunately they are willing to give a degree to just about anybody in the liberal arts so the engineers have to run things.

There is a human approach to engineering but the business school decided it wasn't profitable.

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Sam LilesSelil BlogDon't forget to duck Secret SquirrelThe scholarship of teaching and learning results in equal hatred from latte leftists and cappuccino conservatives. All opinions are mine and may or may not reflect those of my employer depending on the chance it might affect funding, politics, or the setting of the sun. As such these are my opinions you can get your own.

Could this spell the end for the "radical Colonels and Special Foirces officers" that Secretary Gates relies upon for such thinking??

Actually the irony of this approach is that it's such an inside the box approach to produce outside the box thinking.

The COG for driving inside the box thinking is the senior rater profile. Defeat that COG, and you can then start looking at how to then enable more flexible thinking. Leaving that COG in place and hoping to create flexible thinking is like Refusing to address and even protecting the illegitimacy of the Karzai government while attempting to conduct a population centric solution to the insurgency in Afghanistan.

We have to learn how to drop the pet rocks first. But I guess that is outside the box thinking at work.

__________________Robert C. JonesIntellectus Supra Scientia
(Understanding is more important than Knowledge)

"The modern COIN mindset is when one arrogantly goes to some foreign land and attempts to make those who live there a lesser version of one's self. The FID mindset is when one humbly goes to some foreign land and seeks first to understand, and then to help in some small way for those who live there to be the best version of their own self."Colonel Robert C. Jones, US Army Special Forces (Retired)

In my last SWJ blog entry, I introduced the Army Learning Concept 2015 being “championed” by the TRADOC G3. Following up on that post, I want to briefly highlight our discussions on this subject during last week’s TRADOC Senior Leader Conference.

What resonated most clearly was the shared agreement that in order to increase rigor, maintain relevancy, and prevail in the competitive learning environment we have to change. Our current models have not kept pace with the rapid pace of change, the demands of Soldiers rotating in and out of the fight, and a continuous influx of Soldiers with significant “digital literacy.”

We all recognize the challenge and are working to adapt our learning models. We’re changing our assumptions to look at the problem differently, because we know we can’t afford to come up with the same solutions. We’re reaching out to those both inside and outside the military to help in this effort. I’ve asked the TRADOC G3 to draft a white paper that we’ll circulate among the communities of interest in the next 90 days. I welcome views from across the force on ways to ensure we get this right.

The most recent TRADOC Senior Leaders' Conference put the nascent Army Learning Concept under the microscope. While the 400-lb gorilla and a hotel full of 375-lb gorillas analyzed the need for, scoping of, and drafting of the Army Learning Concept into a reality, DCG-IMT (Initial Military Training) began manually moving the tectonic plates of basic training. Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills were revamped, streamlined so that recruits could be put through their paces...all with the goal of transforming the new generation of overweight first-shooter game enthusiasts into some semblance of the game avatar they fancy themselves to be. The initial analysis shows that these efforts are paying off. I eagerly await the second- and third-order effects, which, perhaps naively, I believe will show progress and be aligned with Army Leader Development Strategy, too.

While DCG-IMT is quietly making these improvements, HQ TRADOC is developing the Army Learning Concept document. They are treating this much like the Army Capstone Concept; they are crowdsourcing it. Currently, that crowd is an active-duty Army-only crowd -- not quite as large a crowd as had access to the Army Capstone Concept -- but a crowd nonetheless. This shift (I dare not use the term "paradigm shift," for as soon as I do, the world will backslide to spite me) signals an ever-so-slight open-kimono policy with the Army writ large and, to some extent, the military-centric online community. Hell, with the Marine Corps opening the YouTube flood gates on work computers, Operation Pandora is going to make for very interesting times.

As a jarhead who grew up with Mission Orders, commander's intent, and body-breaking physical fitness requirements (I blew out one knee and fractured both legs during OCS -- thus ending any dream of jumping out of an airplane), I like where the Army is going. Let's get these Soldiers in shape; let's improve marksmanship; let's train leaders how to incorporate commander's intent into their decicion-making process; let's get better at what we do so that we can kill more of the people who need killing (to paraphrase Gen Mattis).